1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a method and a system for automatically identifying a fan arrangement.
2. Background of the Related Art
To cope with a variety of market demands and cost concerns, manufacturers of electronic devices (for example, but not limited to, computer systems, etc.) typically offer consumers a wide variety of choices for products. However, the manufacturer typically adopts component parts from different suppliers or sources, which can increase the complexity of production, impair quality and efficiency, and increase production costs.
As technologies advance, there may be an increase in power consumption and operating frequency of components (for example, but not limited to, a processor, memory, etc.) in the electronic device. Consequently, heat generated from these components correspondingly increases. In order to prevent malfunction and damage of the components due to overheating, it is necessary to monitor the temperature of components and, more importantly, to dissipate heat from the components so as to maintain the temperature within a reasonable range.
In order to dissipate heat from the computer system, cooling fins, fans, and other heat management devices can be used. Cooling fins can assist in the transfer of heat from a target component to the ambient cold air. On the other hand, there are all kinds of fans, such as 3-wire DC fans, 4-wire pulse width modulation (PWM) controlled fans, etc., which can be used to dissipate heat from the internal components of the computer system.
In general, the computer system may need multiple fans to prevent malfunction and damage and to improve the reliability of the computer system. In particular, for high capacity products or systems, such as servers, the use of multiple fans is a common solution with regard to a heat dissipation requirement, fan characteristic control, optimum performance, and the like.
For a particular product or system, there are lots of solutions based upon the selection and arrangement of conventional fans. Among others, one solution is to select a specific type of fan only from a single supplier. Although this approach may make the production process relatively simple, the cost reduction is relatively small and it may result in potential issues of supply shortage. Another solution is to select different types of fans having vital product data (VPD) from different suppliers.
Typically, the vital product data, which includes information about manufacture and parts, can be stored in the non-volatile memory (NV memory) of the product. The vital product data generally includes a part number, serial number, product model number, product version, maintenance level, and specific information of other device types. The vital product data can also include user-defined information.
FIG. 1 illustrates the arrangement of NV memory 104 of the fan 100 used in the computer system. The conventional fan 100 at least includes a fan body (not shown), a microprocessor (MCU) 102, and a NV memory 104. Preferably, the NV memory 104 can be, but is not limited to, a flash ROM, a non-volatile EEPROM, etc. Now referring to FIG. 1, the NV memory 104 includes a protected area 108 and a flash area 112. Data stored in the protected area 108 includes non-erasable codes, which can be, but are not limited to, the vital product data associated with the fan 100, such as a part number, serial number, product model number, and other information.
For the vital product data of the fan 100, during the power-on self-test (POST), POST will show the vital product data of the motherboard parts and the system components. POST will also track the vital product data of the system components to determine whether each device stores a correct serial number. If a device is altered or removed, the user is warned via event log and warning messages. Although such a solution has greater flexibility in production, the fan 100 with the vital product data is relatively expensive.
That is, in order to satisfy the strict specification of a fan or the requirements of a product specification, when building a specific computer system, if a single type of fan from a sole supplier is adopted, potential issues, such as less flexibility in arrangement and poor response effect, may occur. On the other hand, if different fans from multiple suppliers are selected, the cost of implementation may be correspondingly increased.